It was a huge surprise earlier this year to find myself shortlisted for the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards in the Outstanding Achievement category. This tends to be an event that - rightly - celebrates officers, so it was even more surprising to find myself both nominated and shortlisted in a particularly strong field. I was nominated by the LGA Conservative Group for my work as chairman of the LGA Improvement and Innovation Board, including the focus on strengthening our sector-led improvement offer.
It was a fantastic event, and lovely to see so many friends there, as well as get to meet some new people too. Seeing my name and photo on the board as we went in was lovely, let alone on the big screen! I didn't bring the award home with me, but instead the warm fuzzy feeling of having celebrated the best of local government.
